Caricatures are always good time at fairs and carnivals. I am always amazed by how quickly and relatively accurately artists are able to develop and draw these out for patrons. I am not artistic so I always applaud and admire people who are. Did you know some of the earliest caricatures were done by Leonardo da Vinci? Makes sense since he was such a brilliant engineer and really used the right side of his brain to the betterment of a whole generation of artists, engineers, scientists, and craftsman. Anyway, I digress....we are talking caricatures because of this set as it is almost truly unique in the world of sumo. Normally, many sumo menko are drawn to approximate a rikishi's face, but this set does have the appearance of overexaggeration. Before cameras and photographic reproduction were main stream on sumo menko, there must have been a small army of artists cranking out material. I don't think this set was meant to be humorous or funny, but 84 years later it does bring a smile to my face. Catalogued as the R3713: 1937 Caricature 4 set, these are fairly large at 1.5" x 3".
Have an awesome week and sayonara!
Fantastic artwork... and very cool that these survived WWII.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty amazing. These are some of the more unique menko I have come across.
DeleteIf I collected things in this field, I'd be all over items like these. I really dig them!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw them, I knew I had to have them!
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